Sad Cat
'''Sad Cat '''is a character created by Ralph Bakshi and Eli Bauer during the late 70's as a spoof of Fairy Tales, most namely Cinderella, who is constantly abused by his mean step brothers, Latimore and Fenimore. Background Little is documented about why the character was created, however it is known that he was made by Ralph Bakshi as a parody of Fairy Tales and happy endings, (perhaps poking fun at Disney? Through that's just speculation) as his home life is very similar to that of Cinderella. He lived with his two step brothers Fenimore and Latimore, waiting on them on hand and foot, and working him self half to death only to never be given a chance to go out with them, wither they be heading towards a marvelous party, contest or some other event, Sad Cat would always be left behind. His very first cartoon "Gadmouse The Apprentice Good Fairy" set up his living situation as well as the Character Gadmouse, Sad Cat's own personal fairy god friend. A amazing thing of note if that the first Sad Cat short was animated entirely by just Ralph. Gadmouse had the goal of giving someone, anyone, a happy ending, which would in turn earn him a magic wand and the title of a official good fairy. And so he would always look in on Sad Cat and appear to try and help him out with some sort of plan or magic spell, things would always start to go well, only for the whole plan to fall apart by the end, ending most of the shorts with Sad Cat not getting is well deserved happy ending, and yet hopeful that he'll get it right next time. Another thing to mention about the series is that every short took place at night, the buildings and town streets all had a very sharp Gothic design. As the shorts went on however things began to change, as with the cartoon "The Third Musketeer" Sad Cat actually managed to get the best of his brothers, instead of failing and going back to where he started, this wither they knew it or not was the beginning of a change in the series. As the shorts went on Sad Cat went from always losing to always being the one who came out on top against Fenimore and Latimore, it is not known why this change was made, but most likely it could be because the creators felt the audience didn't want to see Sad Cat always lose, that they wanted to see him succeed and gain the last laugh, and so this change was kept for the rest of the series. Gadmouse was subject to change with the cartoon "Scuba Duba Do". As his design and voice was changed to make him more of a leprechaun type of character, he was also given a more jolly less scrappy personality, however it didn't matter, as after this short his character was phased out completely, and some final changes were made. You see, in 1967 Ralph left the studio to work at Paramount and in his place Art Bartsch became the new director for the series, and so under his control starting with the short "Big Game Fishing" stories no longer took place at night, instead they always happened during the day, the whole fairy tale theme was more or less dropped with the stories taking place in modern day, however to biggest change to the series was that instead of Gadmouse, the person Sad Cat would get help from would be the personification of his Super-Ego, a more brave and fearless side of him whom would take physical forum to help out Sad Cat, using supernatural powers much like Gadmouse before him. While there is a underlying idea that his Super-Ego does think highly of Sad Cat and wants him to be happy, he also helps him out so that he can share his glory. The character and his series ended with the cartoon "Dribble Drabble", his final cartoon not only in the classic era of animation, but as a whole as well. His final major role in anything was The Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show, which would sometimes play some of his cartoons alongside the others. Filmography 1965 * Gadmouse The Apprentice Good Fairy (Submitted to Oscars in hope that it'd be nominated, it wasn't.) * Don't Spill The Beans * Dress Reversal (Submitted to Oscars, not nominated.) * The Third Musketeer 1966 * Scuba Duba Do 1968 * Big Game Fishing * Grand Prix Winner * Commander Great Guy * All Teed Off * Judo Kudos * The Abominable Mountaineers * Loops and Swoops * Dribble Drabble Legacy Sad Cat is far and away one of the most obscure characters to ever come out of the studio, however despite this those few who do remember him do so fondly, and he was a character liked enough to have several of his cartoons released on VHS and played on TV along side other TerryToons Characters Notes * Throughout the entire series he never once refers to his brothers by name, he always calls them "Mean Step Brothers". * It has sometimes been said that the reason for Sad Cat no longer losing at the end of each short was because of Ralph Bakshi leaving the studio, however the shorts "The Third Musketeer" and "Scuba Duba Do" were both directed by Ralph and were both the first shorts in which he won, so it likely would have happened either way. * Even through his name is Sad Cat he seems to have pretty happy nature a lot of the time. * It is possible that Gadmouse was meant to be the star of the series, and that it wasn't until after the first short that Sad Cat became the star. Category:Characters Category:Characters created by Ralph Bakshi Category:Characters created by Eli Bauer Category:Cats Category:Animals